13th Asian Continental – a two-nation battle

by Sagar Shah

4/19/2014 – The Open Section has 64 players, including 32 GMs and 11 IMs, and a 2398 average rating. There are 32 prizes, with the winner receiving US $6000. The Women's section has 32 players and a decent rating average of 2141, with the first prize being $3000. The event is essentially a powerhouse confrontation of the two big chess nations: India and China. Three rounds have been played.

Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase 14 and enjoy your chess even more.

Everyone uses ChessBase, from the World Champion to the amateur next door. It is the program of choice for anyone who loves the game and wants to know more about it. Start your personal success story with ChessBase 14 and enjoy your chess even more.

Suppose you are a budding talent from Asia and your dream is to attain
the absolute top chess honour of becoming the World Chess Champion. How
can this dream be converted into reality? Here is the route.

You take part in the Asian Continental Chess Championships that have
started in UAE, specifically in Sharjah, from the 16-26th April 2014.

Finish amongst top 5 players of the tournament and qualify for the
World Cup that is to be held in Baku, Azerbaijan in 2015.

Win the World cup or finish as a runner up and get qualified for the
Candidates 2016.

Win the Candidates 2016 tournament.

Challenge the World Champion (most probably Magnus Carlsen who might
have reached 3000 ELO by then!)

Beat the World Champion and become the undisputed World Chess Champion!

Quite a long process, I agree, but this gives an opportunity to every single
player to dream big! You can definitely understand the importance Asian
Continental Chess Championships hold. The Asian Continental Chess Championships
both for Open and Women category are being held from 16th-26th April in
the city of Sharjah, UAE.

The biggest incentive for players apart from becoming the Asian champion
and winning good prize money is the qualification to World Cup 2015. The
top five players from the Asian Continental Open category and the winner
of Asian Continental women will qualify for the World Cup 2015 in Baku,
Azerbaijan.

The Sharjah Cricket Stadium, currently holding
a very big event of Indian Premier League (IPL)

But let us focus our attention on chess and the Asian Continental Championship.
The Open Section is extremely strong with 64 players and an average rating
of 2398. There are 32 GMs and 11 IMs in the field. It is a nine round event,
with a single round every day. The first prize is US $6000, and there are
in all 32 prizes. So half the players will go back home with some prize
money, and the last place also has a decent amount of $600.

This tournament is more like two powerhouses of Asian Chess, India and
China, fighting out against each other for the top honours. In the top ten
seeds of the tournament there are four Chinese and four Indian players!
I have compared one Chinese player with one Indian, just to give you an
idea as to how well matched they are!

Bu Xiangzhi (2699) and Krishnan Sasikiran (2680)

Bu Xiangzhi (2699) is the top seed of the event. Though he has not been
playing very actively recently he still remains a huge force to reckon.
Bu was at one point the youngest GM in the world when he achieved the feat
at 13 years 10 months and 13 days.

While Bu’s experience at top level chess has been quite extensive,
the Indian GM Krishnan Sasikiran too needs no introduction. Sasikiran is
one of the most talented and hard-working players in Indian chess. He has
not only locked horns with the best but also beaten world class players
like Aronian, Anand, Ponomariov, Adams etc. He has already qualified for
the World Cup 2015 on the basis of becoming National Champion in December
2013.

Yu Yangyi (2667) and Parimarjan Negi (2640)

Parimarjan Negi, born in 1992, is considered by many as the brightest
talent in India currently. He became a GM at the tender age for 13 years
three months and 13 days. He was the champion of this event in 2012, so
he knows what is like to be the best in Asia. Recently he got admitted into
the world famous Stanford University, which is a huge feat for a chess player
in general.

Yu Yangyi born in 1994 was not as quick as Negi to achieve his GM title.
However he more than compensated it by his recent achievements. He became
the World Junior Champion in 2013, and if we go by the names of the past
World Junior champions like Anand, Aronian, Kasparov etc. we realize that
this kid has a very bright future ahead of him. Just a month ago he won
the very strong Chinese Championships. The World Junior 2013 title has qualified
Yu for the World Cup 2015.

Ni Hua (2654) and Surya Shekhar Ganguly (2631)

Touted as huge talents, both these players were expected to break into
the 2700 mark with ease. While Ni Hua who was at one point at a high with
a rating of 2724, he has now lost almost 70 rating points. Ganguly on the
other hand, rendered invaluable services to Vishy Anand, which helped the
latter to become World Champion or retain his title. Both these players
must have come to the tournament with grim determination to perform to their
true potential and become the Asian Champion.

Wei Yi (2629) and Abhijeet Gupta (2630)

While age is not the common factor amongst these two players, their strength
is. Almost equally rated both these players have a lot of achievements to
their credit. Wei Yi has the amazing distinction of become the youngest
player in the history of chess to break in 2600, at the age of 14 years
and four months. The ease with which he beat Nepomniachtchi and Shirov in
World Cup 2013 just shows his immense talent. Even Garry Kasparov has made
a note of him as a rising star.

On the other hand Abhijeet Gupta has a penchant for winning tournaments.
He became the Junior World Champion in 2008, and has won many prestigious
events, like the Prasvanath International Open, the Commonwealth Chess Championships,
the Al Ain Classic, the Philadelphia Open – and the list continues.
Just to make my task easier I can direct you to his
newly launched website to know more about his achievements.

To the not so observant viewer, this might seem like an India-China match.
However there are two more spots left in the top ten seeds and they are
taken up by players from Uzbekistan and Vietnam.

Rustam Kasimdzhanov is the second seed of the event with a rating of 2693.
He already won the World Cup in 2004 and become the FIDE World Chess Champion.
He worked for many years as Vishy Anand’s second and helped him in
his bid to become the World Champion. The list of top ten seeds is completed
by Nguyen Ngoc Truongson (2621) who is one of the best players from Vietnam
after Le Quang Liem.

The Indians have sent a very strong contingent with all of their four young
talents in the form of Vidit Gujrathi (2601, top left), B Adhiban (2609,
top right), Lalith Babu (2594, bottom left) and S.P. Sethuraman (2578, bottom
right) taking part in this year’s Asian Continental. These four youngsters
are marching ahead as a unit when it comes to their ratings, and all of
them are a grave threat to the top ten seeds of the tournament.

The Women's Championship

With the top five Chinese women Hou Yifan, Xie Jun, Zhao Xue, Ju Wenjun
and Ruan Lufei, and the top two Indian women Koneru Humpy and Dronavalli
Harika, not taking part in this year’s Asian Continental women championship,
the strength of the tournament is quite diminished. Yet it boasts of a decent
rating average of 2141, with 32 players in the field. The first prize is
US $3000.

Chinese WGM Tan Zhongyi, rated 2488, is the
top seed in the Women’s Section

Asian Continental Blitz Championship

On 19th April after the 3rd round, a blitz championship will be held, with
a first prize of US $1500. The time control of the event is 3 minutes +
2 sec increment. GM Pentala Harikrishna from India, with an ELO of 2726
the fourth highest rated player in Asia after Anand, Wang Hao and Wesley
So, will take part in the Asian Continental Blitz Championship. He will
be the hot favourite to win the title.

Sagar ShahSagar Shah is an International Master from India with two GM norms. He is also a chartered accountant and would like to become the first CA+GM of India. He loves to cover chess tournaments, as that helps him understand and improve at the game he loves so much. He is the co-founder of the ChessBase India website.

See also

4/23/2017 – In conjunction with the Kasparov Chess Foundation's 15th Anniversary Celebration, the Kasparov Chess Foundation Asia-Pacific proposed five activities as its contribution and four of them came together with a tour of four countries in Asia with the common theme of Chess in Education. Here is an illustrated report by Peter Long

See also

2/22/2017 – We recently reported that the "golden couple" GM Zhang Zhong and WGM Li Ruofan, Singapore's top players, had been "banned" from participating in the the forthcoming Asian Zonal 3.3, because they showed "insufficient involvement in the local chess life." The Association of Chess Professionals protested, and now the Singapore Chess Federation has replied with the following letter.

Video

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